Hi, vode! I've been a little off the ball lately with keeping logs, but I've been making progress!
Two weekends ago I spent an absurd amount of time working on my soft parts... No pictures, yet, but I finished my kama and got a whole lot of other stuff going.
For my kama, I ended up doubling up the fabrics I had and then doing some creative cutting. I started with two rectangles and wanted to end up with two trapezoids. My first idea was to just cut off the extra to shape them, but sometime late at night I was embued with the
Magical Power of Algebra, and after some measurements cut the things in half diagonally and rotated the sides. (Remember, ad'ike - pay attention in math class! You may need to draft a kama pattern someday...) The end result uses every last scrap of fabric and creates maximum kama.The end result is lovely and swingy and edged with some gray vinyl, giving it some stiffness and weight and also creating a cool transition between the kama and flightsuit.
My spats turned out... kinda crazy. There were seams all over the coat I was using, but I managed to line them up and make it all work. Still waiting on the straps to hold it all together - I have some small d-rings I'll be using instead of buckles.
As for the flightsuit - I took in the lower legs (again) because of the bunching fabric under my spats. Now they're like skinny jeans from the knee down. I also hand-stitched and orange stripe down the whole sides of the suit, and I'm thinking of eventually adding more on the longer under-sleeve, even though most of it will be covered by gauntlets. With the kama, thigh holsters and spats/half-chaps, the leg stripe is a little obscured, but as soon as I'm moving it'll start showing in flashes as my kama swings. bringing it up the side of the body will hopefully let it show under the open-sided vest, too.
Speaking of vest; I've decided I'd like to try my hand at making it in leather. My machine did topstitching and curves and the like wonderfully on the spats, and the back of the coat has some fun seams I could use. Since I've got a ton left over, I'd rather use the leather for the vest and buy more duck cloth later if that gets too hot during summer months. Since I'll be using velcro to attach my plates, switching vest should be no problem... It also helps that I have a shiny new dummy to test plate sizes and draft my vest on! On Sunday, Shevla (who came down for Halloween weekend) was kind enough to help me make mine, as well as standing still while I covered him in tape. Hopefully the two of us will be able to do some pattern-making soon!
Last but not least, I picked up some good accessories over the weekend. I found some comfortable gray leather gloves for $10 that are formal-looking but rugged, and they're tight enough on my man-hands that they'll work under the black gloves. They're also lady-cut, meaning my fingers will fit in my brand new Westar 34!
I picked two up for naught but $5 each at the after-Halloween sale. I was bummed the store didn't sell liquid latex, but snagged the two blasters and am giving one to Shevla. I've already sanded, cut and cleaned up one, and I'm very proud of it. It's the Rubie's costume version that makes all manner of awful toy-gun sounds, but it's the right size for my hand/thigh and man, is it a pretty weapon. After a coat of paint and some scuffs (as well as filling some seams and maybe giving the thing some weight...) it'll fit wonderfully with the look of my kit. I am absurdly exited about the thing because it means I actually have some firepower, now!
Hopefully I take pictures tonight - I'm looking forward to finishing some of the leatherwork and starting on a holster...
Updated Beskar'gam Construction Total: $70
